


Marshland

by Falmouth



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Jearmin Week, M/M, but there are no spoiler, canonverse, prompt: tattoo, set some time later recent events in the manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:50:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2820935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falmouth/pseuds/Falmouth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>" “That's why I don't care if this place is stinky and gross. I love it. I must be content with what I've got, even if maybe it's not enough, or it's not what I've always wished for. It's still something.” "<br/>Armin is feeling down, but luckily Jean is there to cheer him up.</p><p>written for the jearmin week iii - day 7 - tattoo</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marshland

The breeze had increased noticeably in the last few days and in the new spot the Survey Corps had found it seemed stronger than ever. As Jean wandered around the shed, every time he breathed his nostrils were filled with the pungent smell of dirt and stagnant water. 

Even if that wasn't the most welcoming place, it was nice knowing they were finally able to relax, leaving all the worries behind. A lot had happened in the last few weeks and everyone was so stressed out that even that stinky place seemed comfortable.

Jean spotted a small figure near the shore of the big swamp and he wondered who had the heart to stand so near that deadly trap... even Sasha had said that it wouldn't have been healthy to eat its fishes... if there were any.

Jean got closer, hugging his uniform for keeping the upcoming winter's cold away.

Armin was crouched down on the ground, his cheeks pressed against his knees, playing mindlessly with a stick in the mud.

Jean walked beside him and didn’t say anything for a while; Armin seemed not to have noticed him, so he cleared his voice and said: “Don't stand so close to the edge, you might fall down. And I don't think you'll come out alive if you touch that stuff. Or if you do, you could have some... genetic modification or something.” Armin didn't look in his direction and continued to gaze at the water with a dead expression.

“It's just mud, Jean” he said in a plain tone. Jean hadn't expected such an unimpressed reaction. When he had said a similar joke to Connie the day prior, he had laughed for minutes, debating with Sasha if actually it was worth it to have a couple of arms more in order to defeat titans. He had hoped Armin could give him at least a little smile. But the blond didn't seem in the mood of joking. No one _really_ was those days, but now that everyone was – momentarily - safe, Jean didn't understand why he looked so depressed, all of a sudden. 

Jean sat beside Armin, sitting on his cloak so he could avoid dirtying his pants. He stared at the blond in silence, but Armin didn't speak, rather he turned his head to the other side so he wouldn't have to face Jean. The latter shook his head and said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Sure this is a strange river, huh? I mean, not only because it's gross and the water is still, but also because it's rounded and so big you can't see where it ends and...”

Armin interrupted him, finally looking at Jean with a stunned expression.

“Jean, what the... it's not a river, it's a lake”

He shook his head, still too astounded by Jean's comment. He took a big breath and started explain everything about lakes: their formation, the many differences between them and how it would have been  _impossible_ to mistake it for a river.

Jean nodded, listening Armin's explanation with a smile. Of course he knew what a lake was, he had gone on holiday with his parents to the Great North Lake before, when everything was still alright, but it seemed that talking about them was good for Armin and it was distracting him from his previous sadness, so he let him talk.

“Actually, however, given the standing water, its not-so-big size, and the plants growing alongside it, I'd rather call it a pond...”

He finished the sentence mid air and then he fell in silence again, turning one more time away form Jean, clearly asking him to leave him alone. Jean was having none of this. 

“You mean it's like a bigger puddle, then? Just like that weird ocean of yours.” he teased, hoping that would make Armin talk about the things he liked once more, correcting Jean on all he pretended not to know. 

Instead, the blond sighed and responded with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess you're right. Just a bigger puddle”.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence once again and this time Jean didn't know what to do. The blond started to throw little rocks in the water, waiting for its surface to be completely smooth again before throwing another one.

“You know” he said suddenly, and he took Jean unawares. “I am sorry for my behavior right now” he paused, taking a deep breath and Jean didn't want to interrupt saying that it wasn't a problem “I think I'm just a little sad, but... this stinky pond is the biggest amount of water I have ever seen. What- what if things will stay like this? What if this is the biggest amount of water I'll ever see?”

He dropped his head between his knees again, hugging his legs and curling up in a ball.

Jean was taken aback at this. He had known for a long time now about Armin's interest in water and his dream of seeing the ocean that was somewhere outside the walls, and he never thought to see the blond so... defeated.

If it were him, he would never have called the only thing that kept him going forward with such a derogatory term. He was just joking when he had called the ocean a puddle, and he hoped that Armin didn't really mean it too. Armin was probably the only one to have such a clear dream and goal in their endless fighting.

“Armin...” he tried to reach for his friend, brushing his hand on the blond shoulder, but the other gently brushed it off, laying down on the ground with his hands up his head.

“That's why I don't care if this place is stinky and gross. I love it. I must be content with what I've got, even if maybe it's not enough, or it's not what I've always wished for. It's still _something.”_

Jean cringed for a moment, thinking at the possible Levi's reaction if they came back with their uniforms all muddy, but he quickly realized that was not what was important right now. He leaned back on his elbows next to Armin and chuckled.

“Hey Arm, close your eyes.”

Armin turned his head to him, brows furrowed “Why should I-”

“Just do it, okay? Please.”

Armin gave him a suspicious look, and then sighed before closing his eyes.

The blond's lips were now curved in the tiniest of the smiles, like he knew something was going to happen, but didn't know what.

The brunet found himself smiling too, because suddenly the atmosphere was so light and peaceful and he wished he could stay like this forever.

He dipped his forefinger in the mud and put it near Armin's right cheek. The mud left a sticky and slimy sensation to his finger and for a moment he thought if it was wise to do what he was going to do, but then he decided that the other's reaction would be worth it. He took a deep breath and started writing on Armin's face.

“Ewww, Jean! What are you doing?!” Armin stood up suddenly, cleaning his face with the hem of his shirt. “When I said I liked this place I didn't mean I would have liked it on my face” he added, looking at the now greenish piece of clothing.

Jean laughed and covered his mouth with his hand. “Sorry, sorry, I just thought it was necessary for cheering you up a little”

“Cheering me up?”

“Yea, that's what I said. Now come here. You ruined my artwork” Jean leaned closer and now that they were facing each other he cleaned away the remaining mud off of Armin's face.

“You are only making it worse, smearing it all on my cheeks” Armin complained, but didn't move, letting Jean do his job.

“You better have a fair explanation for that, you know...” the blond sighed and turned around, looking down at his knees but hiding a smile. Even if it wasn't the most pleasant of the ways, Jean's actions really cheered him up a little, keeping him distracted. Knowing that Jean was so caring to him and was trying everything just to make Armin feel a little better, set something on fire at the pit of his stomach. Something that was burning more frequently and more easily every time the two interacted. Armin wasn't sure of what it was but surely-

The sound of his own heart beating inside his chest suddenly muffled his thoughts when Jean brushed his fingers on his chin to make him turn around again “I wasn't finished”

Armin hadn't even the time to say 'What?' that Jean's finger had started drawing on his face again. The silt was cold and left a tickling sensation on his cheek bones and Armin wrinkled his nose and closed his eyes.

“I'm sorry, I'll try to keep it away from your mouth now”. Jean bit his lip, trying not to laugh at Armin's face. Incredible how cute he could be even with a disgusted expression...

“It's not that... It's just that it stinks so bad. What are you writing anyway?”

Jean gently patted Armin's cheek when he was done and Armin slowly opened his eyes, looking straight into Jean's and for a long, draining moment he felt like he could drown into them and be serene, peacefully falling into nothingness.

"Just what you need." Jean answered simply.

"And that would be...?"

"Hope." Jean said, and then silence fell between them. It wasn't the unpleasant type of silence, more like a shared, intimate moment that didn't need any words. Armin felt that strange warm growing inside him again, despite the cold wind that constantly hit his face, drying the mud on it so he could feel it slowly breaking and falling apart.

"Hope because I don't want you to give up so easily on your dreams. Hope because you're essentially the only one who has something left to hope for. Hope because if you give up now, Armin, no one will have the strength to go on."

Armin bit his lower lip and broke their eyes connection, sulkily fixating them on the ground.

"So" Jean continued, turning his head down so that the blond was forced to face him again, "promise me that you'll... keep fighting for your dreams. Because you deserve them. And I really wish they'll come true someday. Keep having hope, okay? For you, for me and... for everyone else."

Armin smiled shyly and nodded, feeling now a bit of embarrassment growing between them. Jean might have felt that too, because he scratched his nose and let out an awkward laugh.

"Ha ha, I just wish I could make that permanent. Maybe this way you'll remember it." he moved his hand vaguely near Armin's face and then dropped his gaze at the ground too.

Armin couldn't avoid a little laugh. He quickly covered his mouth and whispered through his fingers: "I hope not. I would be hideous with this thing on my face"

"Let's make you something less garish then" He took gently Armin's hand in his -and Armin hoped that his own gasp had only been in his mind and Jean hadn't heard that- and started a simple but unmistakable drawing around Armin's wrist. "There, now this is hope for us. You can keep  _that_ forever."

Armin smiled and brought his left arm close to his nose for taking a better look at Jean's artwork. "You know, it's still just mud, and it will vanish next time I'll clean myself, thing I hope will happen soon."

Jean rolled his eyes and punched Armin slightly on his shoulder. "Why you have to be so serious and fussy all the times? Even if that stupid line of dirt will fade away, you'll know it was there, and it will be written forever in your memory. A-and that what's enough to make you remember everything about it, right? What's really important is its meaning... the concept of a word, or drawing, being impressed in your life forever.”

"If it was meant to fade away, this scrawl on my face would have been enough."

"Shut up, Armin"

Armin should have expected what was coming next. Jean suddenly got up on his feet and crouched down near the bank of the lake, cupping his hands and filling them with water.

Armin closed his eyes and mouth shut in advance before the water hit his face, and it was even worse than before. The water was cold, slimy and stank of rot.

He still laughed though, when, eyes still closed, he felt Jean's hand rubbing his face, with clearly no intention of actually cleaning him. "Jean, please! It's gross!" he said between laughs, trying to catch Jean's hand to keep it away from his face.

He could catch his wrist only when it was already at the top of his head, ruffling his hair and leaving it messier then ever. He opened his eyes and brought Jean's arms down, still holding them tightly by the wrists. He glared at the brunet, who shrugged in response, but they had both a tiny smiles left on their faces.

They stood like that for a moment, suddenly silent, just looking at each other. Armin could see, behind Jean's half smile, that his eyes where filled with both hope and hesitation, like they were saying "Did I manage to make you feel a little better?"

And yes. He definitely did. Armin stared him back gleefully, a bright smile on his face, letting him know that it was all right now. He nearly didn't noticed his own hands going from Jean's wrists to his fingers, intertwining their hands.

"You are mess, you better take a shower"

Armin released his hand, bringing it at his mouth, muffling his giggle. "You say this like it wasn't your fault. But Jean" he added, after the brunet had shaked his head and started going back to the shack. Armin offered him the best of his smiles and was rewarded with a flush spreading on Jean's cheeks.

"Thank you."

 

**Author's Note:**

> It takes me either three months or three days to write a story, there's no between.  
> A bit of loose meaning of tattoo maybe, but I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Sadly jearmin weeks now ends, but it was a very nice experience! thank you!!


End file.
